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Government has embarked on an $11 million project aimed at mitigating the potentially devastating impact of future earthquakes through the application of building codes and appropriate land use policies.
The Seismic Microzonation Studies Project which started in 2016, and which will be implemented over a ten-year-period, seeks to establish effective disaster risk reduction measures for strong and major earthquakes in T&T.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6 to 6.9 is categorised as strong, while one with a magnitude of 7.0 to 7.9 is categorised as major. A great earthquake is 8.0 and more and can totally destroy communities near the epicentre.
The project is being implemented by the UWI Seismic Research Centre and funded by the Ministry of Planning and Development through the Town and Country Planning Division. This was confirmed by officials at the Planning Ministry who said there were several projects in various phases that were currently underway to address these and other issues.
Following the 6.9 magnitude earthquake which hit T&T on Tuesday, the officials agreed it was important to implement mitigation measures.
However, they were unable to confirm if there was a national evacuation plan already in place or one being put in place by the Government for the city of Port-of-Spain. Officials said many businesses and government offices in POS, however, had developed internal policies and procedures to be followed during times of disaster.
Efforts to contact National Security Minister Stuart Young and Head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management Neville Wint to confirm if there were evacuation plans in place for Port-of-Spain and other city centres in the event of another natural disaster proved unsuccessful as calls to their cellphones went unanswered.
Seismic experts warn: The Big One Is Looming
Director of the Seismic Research Centre at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Prof Richard Robertson said in the last ten years or more, we have had elevated seismic activity with several sixes “so we wouldn’t be surprised to have a major event” occurring.
Robertson echoed concerns raised by fellow seismologist Dr Illias Papadopoulos who warned back in March that a major earthquake could hit the region and that the capital and environs were being constructed on reclaimed land.
Papadopoulos said two specific earthquake zones—located north of the Gulf of Paria and within the Gulf of Paria—posed a major threat and could generate earthquakes measuring a magnitude of seven or more.
Both expressed alarm because the capital city was at a greater risk of devastation because of water saturation which could contribute to the process of liquefaction.
In geology, soil liquefaction refers to the process by which water-saturated, unconsolidated sediments are transformed into a substance that acts like a liquid, often in an earthquake.
Robertson said “Imagine a granular material which has fine sediments and also liquid like water in it, if you shake that quite vigorously this will cause it to lose its structural integrity and stops behaving like a solid as the grains move so fast that things can sink. That can happen because a large magnitude earthquake will shake the ground vigorously.
“Areas where you have reclaimed land and land that has lots of liquid in it, those are areas that are well-known by geologists to be prone to or more likely to be impacted by liquefaction.”
Revealing that they had undertaken a detailed study over the last couple years in which they had been examining the nature of the sub-surface in built-up areas such as Port-of-Spain, San Fernando, Scarborough, and Diego Martin, Robertson said “We now know how thick the granular material is and based on this, one of the places we could have major liquefaction possibly happen is in the waterfront area of Port-of-Spain and some of the same areas where large structures have been built.
“That said, we don’t know if the structures built there will be affected because we are not involved in the construction industry.”
Robertson said it was possible to build in areas where liquefaction occurs and not have the structures sink or fail.
Acknowledging the urgent need for long-term investment to foster a greater sense of resilience, Robertson said “Drills help in the immediate response, but there are other things which require greater investment in terms of building stronger and safer structures that require policies to be put into place.”
Commenting on the absolute need for the enforcement of safety and building codes by local authorities, Robertson said “As far as I am aware, T&T does not really have a legislated building code. There was some effort in the past and even some that are ongoing, but there is nothing that says when you build a structure in T&T, you have to follow a particular code.”